Category: News

BALTIMORE (AP) – The Maryland State Board of Education has set guidelines for considering waivers to post-Labor Day school starts under Gov. Larry Hogan’s recent executive order. The board announced the guidelines Monday. Local boards will have to demonstrate they’ve met at least one compelling justification outlined in the governor’s order. They also will have to have conducted at least one public meeting where the waiver application was considered and approved. Justifications include the adoption of an innovative school schedule for a low-performing, at-risk or charter school. Another would be for a school system that was closed for 10 days per year for weather or disaster-related reasons in either of the last two years. Waiver applications need to be submitted by March 31. Granted waivers will be for the 2017-18 school year only.

NEWVILLE (AP) – State police and the district attorney are investigating a human skeleton found by hunters in central Pennsylvania. Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed says it appears the remains are those of a man whose body has been in the area for at least a couple of years. The bones were found in Cooke Township, near Newville, about 30 miles west of Harrisburg on Saturday afternoon. The prosecutor is hoping investigators will be able to gather DNA from the bones and perhaps have an artist do a facial reconstruction drawing to help identify the body. No clothes or other evidence were found nearby. The remains were found near Route 33 and Ridge Road.

STATE COLLEGE, (AP) – State College police say they’re again investigating reports of property damage and possible rioting by fans following a major victory by the Penn State football team. Police used pepper spray, and mounted officers in riot gear to disburse what they called an “unlawful disturbance” following Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship win over Wisconsin. Police haven’t announced arrests, but reported some fans climbing on street signs, others removing a street light and even one report that a fan sprayed a police horse with a beer. Police wound up charging 13 fans, including 11 students following the team’s upset win over then No. 2 Ohio State in October. Police estimated then that up to 10,000 fans did about $30,000 in property damage. Police say the gathering after Saturday’s win appeared larger.

HARRISBURG (AP) – A retired Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission worker says executive-level managers are “out of touch” and that “jobs/promotions are filled by the politicians” – including positions created for unqualified workers. Oh, yeah, Michael Stuban – the middle manager who filled out the scathing exit interview before he retired on Thanksgiving – hit “reply all,” sending the emailed document to all of his more than 2,000 former co-workers. Stuban says he gave the turnpike commission the honest answers he claims they wanted about his 35-year career. Stuban is 58 and says on the exit interview that he would have worked a few more years except that his last five years were “terrible” with “no morale” among workers. Commission Chairman Sean Logan says he never met Stuban and after reading his questionnaire is “grateful” that’s the case.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – A Southwest Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Charleston after a baby was born in the middle of the flight. Airline spokeswoman Melissa Ford tells local media outlets that Flight 556 was on its way from Philadelphia to Orlando on Sunday when a woman went into labor. Ford says medical personnel who were on the flight helped with the delivery, and the family was taken to an area hospital when the plane landed. Officials say the flight and the remaining passengers arrived in Orlando just over an hour behind schedule.

YORK (AP) – Police in York County arrested a 27-year-old woman after they say she gave her 4-year-old daughter opiates to “help her sleep” late last week. The York Daily Record reports April Rose was charged on Saturday with drug possession, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person. Northern York County Regional Police launched an investigation into the Conewago Township woman after they were contacted by the county Office of Children, Youth and Families regarding a suspicious incident involving her daughter. Authorities say the girl’s grandmother took her to York Hospital after learning that Rose gave her a white powder that she said tasted bad and made her stomach hurt. Court documents state the girl tested positive for opiates. It’s not known if Rose has a lawyer.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Organizers of the Mummers Parade are hopeful cultural education efforts will mean a more respectful and inclusive tone throughout their traditional Philadelphia New Year’s celebration. Recent years have been marred by racially and socially offensive displays. Their new initiatives include sensitivity training and online videos on the rules of satire. The parade features ornate costumes and musical performances, and attracts thousands of spectators each year.

FELTON, DE (AP) – Delaware State Police are releasing the name of a Harrington Police Department officer who fatally struck a Pennsylvania man who was standing in a traffic lane of a state highway. Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said in a statement Sunday that 47-year-old Carl Klotz was off-duty and driving a marked SUV when he hit 32-year-old Christopher Thompson of Coatesville, PA around 1:40 a.m. Saturday in an eastbound lane of Route 12 east of Felton. Hale says Thompson had pulled over in his pickup truck to check a mechanical problem with a 30-foot trailer he was towing. Hale says part of the trailer was sticking out in the roadway, and Thompson was standing beside it when he was hit. Hale says the accident remains under investigation.

HARRISBURG (AP) – The Green Party-backed fight for a recount of Pennsylvania’s Nov. 8 presidential election result, won by Republican Donald Trump, is poised to enter a new arena. Lawyers for the campaign were preparing this morning to ask a federal court judge in Philadelphia for an emergency recount order. Lawyers say they’ll cite constitutional grounds. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has spearheaded a recount effort in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, states where Trump won narrowly over Democrat Hillary Clinton. She’s said a recount could determine whether the election results were manipulated by hackers, although she hasn’t produced evidence. Green Party-backed voters dropped a state court case in Pennsylvania on Saturday after being ordered to post a $1 million bond. They’ve also unsuccessfully sought a forensic examination of county election system software.

HARRISBURG (AP) – President-elect Donald Trump and the Pennsylvania GOP are asking a state court to throw out a Green Party-backed request for a recount of Pennsylvania’s Nov. 8 presidential election, which Trump won. In a filing late Thursday, Republican lawyers accused Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein of legal antics that threaten Pennsylvania’s ability to certify its presidential electors by the Dec. 13 federal deadline. A Monday court hearing is scheduled in the case. The GOP argues there’s no evidence or even allegation that tampering with the state’s voting systems occurred and that the law doesn’t specifically allow a court-ordered recount. Stein is spearheading a recount effort in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, states where Trump won narrowly over Democrat Hillary Clinton. She cites concerns cyberattacks could alter results tabulated on Pennsylvania’s electronic voting machines.